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NONE IS |
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NONE ARE |
Though the word "none" may be derived from "not one," it is not a
literal contraction of those two words. Thus, there is no good reason to
think the word must be used in the singular as some say. "None" is usually
used to mean the opposite of "all," as in "All/none of the children went."
Since "all" is plural, "none" must be able to be used in the plural as well.
Compare "None of the children are going," to "None of the children is going."
The second is very jarring to most people's ears due to the plurality of the
word "children." To offset that one needs a strong definitively singular
pronoun. One must say "Not one of the children is going." For a word that contains
"one" to sound singular, the word "one" needs to be heard, such as in "someone."
That is not the case with "none." Even in the expression, "I'll
have nove of it." The pronoun "it" an only refer to a non-count noun, such
as cake, water, or as how this expression is unually used, I won't take part in
the situation. Thus, even here none is only singular because it is
referrng to a non-count noun. Non-count nouns are always singular:
None of the water is ... . None of the flour is left, etc. Always
keep "none" in the plural, it sounds much better, and it is needed as an antonym
for all, since there is no other antonym that can be used.